About ISON Blog

Comet ISON is a sungrazing comet on its maiden voyage to the inner solar system, and has the potential to put on quite a show in 2013 if it survives its close encounter with the Sun.

ISONblog draws on the expertise of the astronomers and staff of the Space Telescope Science Institute, home of the science mission of the Hubble Space Telescope, to bring you unique analysis and original images of Comet ISON during its visit to our skies.

Got Questions?

We may have the answers. Talk to us on Facebook, Google+ or Twitter, and we'll see if we can help you with your Comet ISON inquiries. Leave messages in comments, or use the hashtag #isonblog.

Got Pictures?

Have you been taking your own pictures of ISON or do you just want to check out those who have? Join the Comet ISON Pool on Flickr.

ISONblog

Join planetary astronomers and Host Tony Darnell at 4 p.m. EST July 17 for a Google Hangout discussion of Comet ISON, its origins and destination, and why everyone's so excited about it. You can ask your own questions of the experts on hand, and they'll do their best to answer.

The approach of this comet has generated a lot of excitement, it is going to pass extremely close to the sun and when it does, astronomers tell us this may be among the brightest comets we've ever seen hanging in our night sky.

Or will it be a dud?

Well, we're going to talk about that and a whole lot more:

Is it going to hit us?Where did it come from?How big is it?What's it made of?What's so great about comets anyway?What if it breaks up? Will the pieces hit us?How can I get a comet named after me?Is Scott's head a comet nucleus?

Please join Tony Darnell, Alberto Conti and Scott Lewis as they discuss these and any other questions you can think to ask to some of the planetary scientists working at the Space Telescope Science Institute.

We'll have Max Mutchler , Dr. Bonnie Meinke and Dr. Jian-Yang Li on hand to tell us what Hubble is expected to see, how it will see it and we'll also go into the topic of comets in general.